Blogs

Hill’s Pet Nutrition Tour - Part 1

1/26/2017by Jami Stromberg, DVM

Last spring, assistant Heather and I had the opportunity to spend a few days at the Hill’s Science Diet Global Pet Nutrition Center in Topeka, Kansas and one of their nearby canning facilities. Hill’s Pet Nutrition, Inc. is a pet food manufacturer headquartered in Topeka. The company has been making pet food for over 100 years and in 1948 they produced the first prescription pet food – Canine k/d (for dogs with kidney disease). Since then, they have become a leader in the science and art of pet nutrition and they now carry over 60 different prescription pet foods, in addition to several lines of foods for healthy pets. I have been prescribing Hill’s prescription diets since I graduated veterinary school 20 years ago and I have always been impressed by the research that goes behind all of their diets, the veterinary support that I receive if I have a pet nutrition question, and the customer service that they provide to both our clinic and our clients.

It was nice to be able to see the company at work – up close. Their Pet Nutrition Center does a lot of palatability studies on healthy animals – they test different flavors and kibble size/texture to see which food the pets like best. They even compare Hill’s food to other brands! The 900 animals at the facility get better care than many pets do. There are animal care attendants assigned to each room, and a big part of their job is simply to play with the animals. There are also 3 full time veterinarians on staff to provide both preventative care and care to sick animals. No expense is spared to give these animals a great life! You can see more about the Global Pet Nutrition Center by clicking on this link and watching the video.http://www.hillstransforminglives.co.za/about-hills/hill-s-global-pet-nutrition-center/

I’ll write a bit more about other aspects of my time spent with Hill’s in future blog posts.

Jami Stromberg, DVM

Hill's Pet Nutrition has a mission to help enrich and lengthen the special relationships between people and their pets. Learn more about Science Diet®, Ideal Balance™ and Prescription Diet® pet foods at HillsPet.com.